*the beat report:

GRASSROOTS: THE COMING GRASS ARE WORKING FROM THE BOTTOM UP

Ben Monaghan · The Portland Phoenix · December 10, 1999

Usually performing a live gig on a radio station is cause for optimism. But after one such experience, a good friend of mine, a local musician, was left completely depressed.

"It's getting harder and harder," Joe Brien confessed. "When I was there, I saw boxes of CD's, crates of them. And more keep arriving every day."

Payola, the scourge of radio in the '50s, may now be illegal, but labels are still finding ways to influence what gets played and what doesn't. Today it just goes by a friendlier term: it's called marketing dollars. And it's enough to send Brien into a rant.

"It's all about who's got the mightiest dollar," he says. "They shower the stations with gifts, concert giveaways, parties...The labels pick the flavor of the month - what gets played and what doesn't. How can I compete with that?"

It's getting harder. The $38 billion recording industry has been whittled down to a select few, with Warner Music, Sony, BMG, Universal, and EMI controlling the lion's share. In the next few years, the list may even get shorter as the pressure to generate short-term profits gets ratcheted another notch. With one eye on Wall Street and the other on Main, music is more hit oriented than ever. As Leigh Lust, who signs bands at Electra Records, recently told the New York Times, "The cost of doing business has gotten so exorbitant, the only way the labels can make their money back is with a huge hit."

"I can remember having guys from the label going through our material to determine which songs fit the sound they wanted," Nate Schrock says, referring to his former days with Pale Face and the Lost.

Few Portland musicians know more about the politics of the big labels than Schrock. At 38, Schrock has spent his adult life in the music business on both the Sony and Epic labels, spending many of those years on the road with Billy Idol and the Clash. Five years ago, he moved to Portland from New York.

"I've actually heard a guy tell a band, 'Pearl Jam is doing really well; you should try to sound more like Pearl Jam.' This is why everything sounds more or less the same. The songs are written in the same style. It makes it easier for the guys to market. Bands aren't as diverse as bands like the Stones or the Clash used to be." Or for that matter, as diverse as they were just five years ago.

Schrock just returned from backing Cindy Bullens on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and now is focusing on his band and the release of their debut CD, the self-titled The Coming Grass, December 17, at the Free Street Taverna.

"The things I believed when I was 19 was true," he says. "It took me until I was 35 to realize it."

Today, Schrock takes Ani DiFranco as his model. DiFranco has reached a national audience by eschewing the major labels and radio hits. She instead built a grassroots following on her own label, Righteous Babe Records, aided in part by the Internet - an ally of many independent artist who view it as a tool to break the label's control.

"We're better off being a grassroots band," Schrock says. "It allows us much more creative control over our material. I'd rather make 90 percent on 100 CDs sold than 3 percent on 100,000."

Many in Portland are familiar with Schrock's sister, Kate, who joins her brother on piano for "No Harm," presently in WCLZ's homegrown bin. Keeping it in the family, the Coming Grass also feature Nate's wife Sara Cox, who provides lead vocals on "No Harm" and harmonies on the other 10 tracks. Sara Cox is best known for providing backing vocals on Diesel Doug's last two CDs. The Coming Grass perform live on WCLZ at 8 a.m. on December 14.

The Coming Grass's release reflects the diversity Schrock remembers. It's a mix of mid-tempo songs that at times reflect Schrock's punk roots in social commentary while at other times getting more introspective themes. Schrock, who recorded and mixed the entire CD and played the majority of the instruments, builds his material around the foundation of Ginger Cote's drumming, which is featured prominently. Guitar parts are used more for atmosphere than for providing catch riffs or blistering solos, much in the spirit of the Cowboy Junkies. The lyrics are consistently well written and the delivery laid back and unaffected. When Cox is featured more prominently, like in "Comes True," Schrock's voice nicely accommodates, creating the effect of a beautiful country duet.

The Coming Grass is a nice addition to the local scene, which may not be making the charts, but is certainly making good music - whether the labels recognize it or not.